News coverage about Strategic Hotels and Resorts (NYSE:BEE) has been trending somewhat positive on Thursday, according to Accern. The research firm rates the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companie

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018

As I referenced in an article yesterday, over the next few weeks I intend to focus on researching REITs that are projected to deliver the most robust FFO, dividend and NAV growth.

The reason for this tactical research is that I believe that REITs with the best FFO growth can potentially offset any diminution in net asset values, which would be pressured by rising interest rates and capitalization rates.

On Friday I will be interviewed on Wall Street Week (on Fox Business) where I will discuss my favorite REIT sectors and sub-sectors. One of these sectors that I am particularly bullish is healthcare. As you can see below, we have around 30% of our Durable Income Portfolio dedicated to healthcare REITs.

Wednesday brings earnings from General Mills (GIS) , which will likely be disappointing, Paychex (PAYX) , which will likely be good, and an analyst meeting from Cisco Systems (CSCO) , which needs to show investors it still has more growth ahead.

[By Monica Gerson]

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $1.08 per share on revenue of $1.81 billion.
ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE: CAG) is expected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.52 per share on revenue of $2.89 billion.
Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.49 per share on revenue of $751.52 million.
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is expected to post a quarterly loss at $0.09 per share on revenue of $2.95 billion.
McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $0.74 per share on revenue of $1.06 billion.
Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is expected to report its quarterly earnings at $1.51 per share.
Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHN) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $0.18 per share on revenue of $356.41 million.
Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC) is expected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.08 per share on revenue of $49.89 million.
Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.99 per share on revenue of $148.43 million.

Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

[By Monica Gerson]

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.50 per share on revenue of $751.20 million.

UniFirst Corp (NYSE: UNF) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $1.26 per share on revenue of $362.62 million.

[By Lisa Levin]

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

Paychex posted Q3 earnings of $0.56 per share on revenue of $795.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $799.0 million.

[By Monica Gerson]

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Two of Keith’s favorite Unstoppable Trend stocks are Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) and Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX). RTN and BDX are leaders in the Unstoppable Trends of defense and demographics, respectively.

[By Money Morning News Team]

If you’re looking for one of thebest investments today, it’s hard to beat Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN). It doesn’t matter if the market is up or down, defense spending continues to increase. In the past year, global annual defense spending hit $1.6 trillion, and this is considered to be an industry that is likely to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

[By Stephen Mack]

Defense contractor Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) beat expectations last week, reporting earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89 compared to an expected $1.76. That’s still a 20% drop from $2.38 in the same quarter last year. But here’s what’s important to understand: It’s not as bad as it looks.

[By Michael A. Robinson]

Key holdings in ITA include…

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) makes a full range of unmanned vehicles. That means it can cover air, land, and sea assignments for both military and commercial uses. The company is widely known for military drones like the Desert Hawk III, used by the U.K. military to surveil suspected terrorists. It also makes the Marlin, an oceangoing drone that can conduct underwater surveys and inspections. Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) makes unmanned aircraft for defense applications naturally. It’s also collaborating with Yamaha Corp. (NYSE ADR: YAMCY) to develop an autonomous helicopter with onboard intelligence-gathering equipment for such civilian uses as search and rescue and forest-fire monitoring. Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) is a great backend play because of its drone-support platform. The Common Ground Control System is an open-format control station that can be used to control all manner of UAVs. I expect the system to be adapted for commercial/industrial use as well.

As exciting as ITA’s drone exposure is, we also get a nice kicker with this ETF – defense spending.

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2018: TAL International Group Inc.(TAL)

That’s why Cramer said he’ll be listening for news coming from Celgene (CEL) , Amgen (AMGN) , Allergan (AGN) , an Action Alerts PLUS holding, and Regenron (REGN) , all of which are set to present. Of the four, Cramer said he’s sticking with Allergan and Amgen.

The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) which rose 3.6% to $57.35. The stocks 52-week range is $45.30 to $68.00. Volume was 4.6 million compared to its average volume of 2.3 million.

[By Ben Levisohn]

But U.S. Steel is getting killed, as are AK Steel (AKS), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Nucor (NUE). Can we chalk it up to Paul Ryan’s comments that tax reform could take longer than health care reform, which also seems to be tanking the overall market?

With that idea in mind, we asked three of our top contributors to write about a stock they see as being a bargain today, and they gave us mortgage industry software lynchpinEllie Mae Inc(NYSE:ELLI), real estate holding companyStore Capital Corp(NYSE:STOR), and steelmaker extraordinaireNucor Corporation(NYSE:NUE).

[By Lee Jackson]

This top steel company could do very well if the economy sees a solid pickup this year and the administration’s infrastructure push remainsin place. Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the United States and Canada. The company alsois North America’s largest recycler.

News coverage about Strategic Hotels and Resorts (NYSE:BEE) has been trending somewhat positive on Thursday, according to Accern. The research firm rates the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companie

MorphoSys AG (MOR) is a recent addition to the Nasdaq, having raked in close to $208 million in their April IPO when 2,075,000 new ordinary shares in the form of 8,300,000 American Depositary Shares were priced at $25.04 per ADS.

Many of you are familiar with my “worst-to-first” strategy of investing in Dow stocks. The investment concept was the subject of my book, Winning With the Dow’s Losers, explains Chuck Carlson, dividend expert and editor of DRIP Investor.